Let me say first congratulations!
It is awesome to have exciting choices.
Do you think you want to be an automotive engineer? If so it seems one of the schools has a stronger program, an actual major with job placement in the field.
If you want to follow that dream pick the school that will open that door for you.
Congratulations on your acceptance to Clemson, and best of luck to you tomorrow as you await acceptance to UF. My D is in a similar position and has actually stated her desire to be denied by UF tomorrow so she won’t feel so torn on her choice. The only difference is that she is majoring in nursing where Clemson has a direct admit nursing program and UF does not. We are from south Florida and have a son that attends and loves UF. (Pre-Med) She has received a small ($7,500) oos scholarship from Clemson but still there is such a gap financially (as well as distance) that we just can’t ignore. The way we figure it would probably cost an extra $70,000-$80,000 to attend Clemsons direct admit nursing program over UF. It would be even cheaper if she accepted any of the other Florida schools that she’s been accepted to since those ( FSU, USF, FIU, UCF, FAU) have all come with scholarship offers. FAU is out because it was a direct admit nursing program that needed their decision within two weeks and she was unwilling to put her top choices aside. The only other in state direct admit choice was UM who waitlisted her. She really wants a direct admit so she no longer has to worry about being accepted into nursing after two years and possibly having to leave the school she chose to attend because she didn’t receive a spot! This is a very stressful time and I feel for you, and for her, and all the parents who just want to make the best decision for their child and not break the bank. Good luck!
@chaddyboy25 My husband and I are native South Carolinians and had the wonderful experience of living in Clemson for many years when he worked for Clemson University for 15 years. I understand the pull there. Clemson is a wonderful college town, the university is awesome and when the team runs down that hill into Death Valley… oh, my. But now we live in Gainesville and guess where my son who was born and raised a Tiger goes to school? UF! We packed up his bags his freshman year & drove all the way down the road about 5 miles to move into the dorms and he absolutely loves being a Gator! And hopefully, today at 6 pm, his sister will find out that she will also be attending her 1st choice, UF…
Financially, it made better sense for our Tiger children to become Gators.And my son would tell you he has never, ever regretted it.
@isasmom Good luck tomorrow at 6! Hope things turn out just the way they should.
Nursing is a very flat field in terms of pay, and she will not make any more money going to Clemson for nursing than the in-state options. She would be much better off saving the money for post-college expenses than spending it on OOS tuition.
We are aware that it doesn’t make much difference in eventual pay weather she goes to Clemson, UF, or any of the other schools she’s been accepted to. The issue she is most concerned about is having the 4 year college experience at one terrific school. If that school has 120 nursing spots and her and 2,000 other very qualified students apply for those spots for Junior year, there is a sizable chance that she will not get one. If she’s lucky enough to be accepted to another school for nursing at that time, it would be good but not ideal. We have friends who’s children were not accepted with 4.0’s simply due to the fact that there are more qualified students vs. spots. Some of those students decided to just stay at UF (for example) and change their major, the others accepted nursing spots in other less favorable schools. Even worse are the ones who’s GPA’s weren’t quite up to par and didn’t get a spot in a nursing program at all. I want to believe with all of my heart that she will be accepted into the school of her choice at the time but the only way she is guaranteed a nursing spot in a school for 4 years is to accept the direct admit. She has been accepted to Clemson, UMass Amherst, UT Austin, and Drexel…all direct admit nursing. We have narrowed her top direct admit choice to Clemson and will wait to see what tomorrow brings as far as top choice in non direct admit. So far she is leaning toward USF or UF if she gets in. She is willing to work whenever she can and is applying for outside scholarships to bridge the financial gap.
@floridamomof3 my son loves being a Gator too, so much so that he hardly comes home anymore. It must be so awesome to have a happy Gator who lives close enough to drop off his laundry or come “home” for dinner, or just to say hi. Best of luck to your daughter as she awaits her decision results.
@issamom, ( going to get off the Clemson v. UF track here though if heaven forbid they ever play in football we would cheer on our Gators) We rarely see our Gator ( especially his freshman year.) He is having such fun.A couple of his close friends are in the nursing program and then one close friend with great grades was not admitted and was heartbroken.Its tough. We also know a multi generational Gator family who did not send their 2 admitted daughters to UF who wanted to major in nursing because of the competitive standards and small class.They both attend FSU.
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If that school has 120 nursing spots and her and 2,000 other very qualified students apply for those spots for Junior year, there is a sizable chance that she will not get one. If she’s lucky enough to be accepted to another school for nursing at that time, it would be good but not ideal. We have friends who’s children were not accepted with 4.0’s simply due to the fact that there are more qualified students vs. spots. S
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This seems strange…
Even if there were 2000 pre-nursing incoming UF freshman (and I doubt that), there would not be anywhere close to 2000 soon-to-be-juniors applying for 120 junior-year-nursing-clinical spots. Many lesser-qualified would have been weeded out…and some would have simply changed their career interest path.
I agree that it would still be competitive to be promoted to 3rd year, but I find it hard to believe that students with true 4.0’s were not promoted. How can someone else be “more qualified” than a 4.0?
UF BSN: “Currently the average GPA for BSN graduates is between 3.5 and 3.6”
You’re competitive for UF Honors, and if you get that, don’t look back.
Frankly Clemson is not worth that much more than UF, even with Calhoun (which is not a sure thing at all).
Any news?
@floridamomof3 have the two who chose to attend FSU been accepted to the nursing program there yet or are they still in pre-nursing? The fact is that any of the terrific schools in our state are very competitive for nursing, the only difference is that UF has many more applicants to choose from since it’s great to be a Florida Gator and even greater to be a Gator Nurse! Obviously I might be a bit biased in my reasoning. Honestly though I could try and convince my daughter to accept at let’s say USF based solely on the fact that they would likely get less applicants than UF so it might increase her chances of getting a spot there junior year but there is still no guarantee. Not to mention reapplying to all the colleges all over again and then the nursing schools once accepted. We are going to spend some time at USF and Tampa this month and Clemson in March at the accepted nursing students day. We shall see!
@chaddyboy25 I hope that you had better luck with UF than my DD. Moot point for us now, she’s not upset though. @floridamomof3 I hope that your daughter received an acceptance to UF as well! I agree and echo what you said “hope things turn out just the way they should”
@isasmom DD was accepted. I am going to ask the family with daughters who are majoring at nursing at FSU how they made that decision and then PM you on here. Might be a few days. And by the way, we are floored over who has been denied this year at UF. Relieved to hear your daughter is not upset. She has wonderful options.
@floridamomof3 Congratulations to your daughter, that’s wonderful news!!! I remember two years ago waiting on my sons acceptance to UF with a group of moms. All our boys had pretty similar stats, all better than top 10% of their very competitive high school class, only two of the 5 of our boys got accepted. We chocked it up to the luck of the draw and figured as much would happen this time. My daughter feels very bad for her friends who were Gators fans since birth that didn’t get in, and she is relieved that she did not take one of their spots because she most likely was not going to accept. As a parent who’s child was rejected it stung a little but I totally understand that they just can’t accept them all. I’m still a Gator mom and will be one for life.